This Date in College Football Belt History – September 30

The 1-2 Brigham Young Cougars of coach Lavell Edwards traveled to Fort Collins to meet the 2-1 Colorado State Rams of Sonny Lubick.  Cougars’ QB Steve Sarkisian threw 3 touchdown passes while the defense held Colorado State to 14 yards rushing & withstood 2 late touchdown passes from Rams’ back-up QB Moses Moreno as Brigham Young won 28-21 to claim their first Belt reign.  Colorado State took a 6-0 lead when CB Jason Craft intercepted Sarkisian & returned it 30 yards for a touchdown.  The Cougars scored the only points of the 2^nd quarter when Sarkisian found WR Mike Johnston for a 25-yard touchdown pass giving Brigham Young a 7-6 halftime lead.  Sarkisian connected with RB Hemi Heimuli for a 45-yard touchdown pass for the only points of the 3^rd quarter.  It appeared the Cougars had the game in hand when RB Mark Atuaia scored on a 3-yard touchdown run & Sarkisian hit TE Tom Baldwin for an 8-yard touchdown pass giving Brigham Young a 28-6 advantage.  Moreno replaced QB Daren Wilkinson in the 4^th quarter after Wilkinson had thrown for just 80 yards with 2 interceptions.  Moreno found WR Paul Turner for touchdown passes of 5 & 14 yards as the Rams closed to 28-21 but the Cougars were able to run off the last 1:38 of game time to secure the win.  Sarkisian finished with 254 yards passing with his 3 touchdowns but 2 interceptions & the Cougars held the ball for 37:41 of the game.  Moreno finished with 128 yards passing with 2 touchdowns as well as an interception & All-WAC DE Brady Smith recorded 4 sacks for Colorado State.  The Rams finished the season 8-4; WAC Co-Champs while the Cougars finished 7-4 & WAC Co-Champs.  Colorado State would play for The Belt again in 1996.

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